History Main / BadassDriver

* Sabine Schmitz, the most BadAss [[ActionGirl female driver]] ever lived. Has done around 20,000 laps of the Nurburgring Nordschleife, and crashed "many times, can't count actually". This being a circuit that's 13 miles around which there continues to be fatalities on a yearly basis. On Top Gear she blew past motorbikes and sports cars...in a VAN. Which halfway around the lap "got no more ABS". And they say Danica Patrick is making headlines...

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* Sabine Schmitz, the most BadAss badass [[ActionGirl female driver]] ever lived. Has done around 20,000 laps of the Nurburgring Nordschleife, and crashed "many times, can't count actually". This being a circuit that's 13 miles around which there continues to be fatalities on a yearly basis. On Top Gear she blew past motorbikes and sports cars...in a VAN. Which halfway around the lap "got no more ABS". And they say Danica Patrick is making headlines...

* Keiichi Tsuchiya. He isn't called ''[[RedBaron The Drift King]]'' for nothing. He's so BadAss that he himself appeared (though not completely) in a special episode in the anime version of ''Manga/InitialD'' as the one talking to Bunta Fujiwara on the cellphone for advice. Not only that, but he was the inspiration for the character Takumi, Bunta's son. [[RetiredBadass Though his glory years are now far behind him]], he's still a CoolOldGuy.

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* Keiichi Tsuchiya. He isn't called ''[[RedBaron The Drift King]]'' for nothing. He's so BadAss badass that he himself appeared (though not completely) in a special episode in the anime version of ''Manga/InitialD'' as the one talking to Bunta Fujiwara on the cellphone for advice. Not only that, but he was the inspiration for the character Takumi, Bunta's son. [[RetiredBadass Though his glory years are now far behind him]], he's still a CoolOldGuy.

* A.J. Foyt, one of the winningest drivers in IndyCar history. He won ''four'' Indy 500s (only two other drivers have accomplished that: Al Unser Sr. and Rick Mears, both badass drivers themselves), won 138 USAC races (the most of any driver), and in the 1964 Champ Car season, won 10 of the 14 races, a record that still holds to this day.

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* A.J. Foyt, one of the winningest drivers in IndyCar history. He won ''four'' Indy 500s (only two other drivers have accomplished that: Al Unser Sr. and Rick Mears, both badass drivers themselves), won 138 USAC races (the most of any driver), and in the 1964 Champ Car season, won 10 of the 14 races, a record that still holds to this day. He also managed to find success in NASCAR, including a win in the 1972 Daytona 500.

* Prohibition gave rise to an illegal and dangerous, but quite economically rewarding, activity: dodging the police while hauling contraband moonshine on modified cars. The famous "Bootlegger's Reverse" was named for just one of the maneuvers that such drivers would pull. What happened to all of those skilled drivers after prohibition ended? They formed UsefulNotes/{{NASCAR}}. See also [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junior_Johnson Junior Johnson]].* "Precision drivers" like Russ Swift, who's skills include parking cars [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5LtjCsRp2I with a handbrake turn]], and on one clip imitating the movie 'The Driver' using the walls of a car park to knock bits of the car off.

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* Prohibition gave rise to an illegal and dangerous, but quite economically rewarding, activity: dodging the police while hauling contraband moonshine on modified cars. The famous "Bootlegger's Reverse" was named for just one of the maneuvers that such drivers would pull. What happened to all of those skilled drivers after prohibition ended? They formed UsefulNotes/{{NASCAR}}. See also [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junior_Johnson Junior Johnson]].Johnson.]]* "Precision drivers" like Russ Swift, who's skills include parking cars [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5LtjCsRp2I with a handbrake turn]], turn,]] and on one clip imitating the movie 'The Driver' using the walls of a car park to knock bits of the car off.

** The most famous biker of this kind is a Swede: [[http://www.ghostridermovie.net/ Ghost Rider]] (not to be confused with [[ComicBook/GhostRider this]] or [[Film/GhostRider this]] fictional one). He did similar things as the Black Prince, but as he had better bikes at hand, he took them UpToEleven. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShacMAn_HK8 He managed to ride 68km of quite crowded six-lane motorway between Stockholm and Uppsala on a Suzuki GSX-R 1000 tuned to 185bhp in less than 15 minutes]], [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0flRAlwrlc&feature=related reaching an average speed of 270km/h and often spending a minute or more at the governed top speed of 299km/h]]. He also did insane stuff with a 499rwhp turbocharged Suzuki GSX 1300 R Hayabusa streetfighter such as [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShacMAn_HK8 wheelies at beyond 300km/h on a runway as well as on a crowded motorway while weaving through the traffic]]. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9BofCzc80U Ghost Rider even redid the Black Prince's Périphérique Run as a tribute]]—and became the first to break the Black Prince's record.** This Russian Ghost Rider follower has [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hC84fgyh-c balls and nerves of steel]], too.* Speaking of speeding in Sweden, there's also ''[[http://www.getawayinstockholm.com Getaway in Stockholm]]''. High-performance cars with cameras mounted on them tease the police in Stockholm to chase them, let themselves be chased but not caught for a while, recording the chase with said cameras, and then head for an expressway where they escape at speeds out of reach for Swedish police cars. Like Ghost Rider, the drivers of these cars cannot be convicted thanks to the very special Swedish traffic laws.* The whole mounting-a-camera-on-your-ride-and-flooring-it-on-public-streets thing is OlderThanYouThink, by the way. The French director Claude Lelouch already did it on an early August morning in 1976 in his short movie ''[[http://www.rendezvousdvd.com/ C'était un rendez-vous]]''. He mounted a camera on the front end of his Mercedes 450 SEL 6.9 and raced the comparably heavy and cumbersome luxury sedan through the streets of Paris. Although this was indeed released as a sort of movie, this does qualify for RealLife because absolutely nothing (except dubbing the engine sounds with a Ferrari 275 GTB) was edited, not even sped up, absolutely no special effects were applied, no preparations beyond mounting the cam on the Mercedes were made, and there wasn't even really a script except the route.

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** The most famous biker of this kind is a Swede: [[http://www.ghostridermovie.net/ Ghost Rider]] (not to be confused with [[ComicBook/GhostRider this]] or [[Film/GhostRider this]] fictional one). He did similar things as the Black Prince, but as he had better bikes at hand, he took them UpToEleven. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShacMAn_HK8 He managed to ride 68km of quite crowded six-lane motorway between Stockholm and Uppsala on a Suzuki GSX-R 1000 tuned to 185bhp in less than 15 minutes]], minutes,]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0flRAlwrlc&feature=related reaching an average speed of 270km/h and often spending a minute or more at the governed top speed of 299km/h]]. He also did insane stuff with a 499rwhp turbocharged Suzuki GSX 1300 R Hayabusa streetfighter such as [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShacMAn_HK8 wheelies at beyond 300km/h on a runway as well as on a crowded motorway while weaving through the traffic]]. traffic.]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9BofCzc80U Ghost Rider even redid the Black Prince's Périphérique Run as a tribute]]—and became the first to break the Black Prince's record.** This Russian Ghost Rider follower has [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hC84fgyh-c balls and nerves of steel]], steel,]] too.* Speaking of speeding in Sweden, there's also ''[[http://www.getawayinstockholm.com Getaway in Stockholm]]''. Stockholm.]]'' High-performance cars with cameras mounted on them tease the police in Stockholm to chase them, let themselves be chased but not caught for a while, recording the chase with said cameras, and then head for an expressway where they escape at speeds out of reach for Swedish police cars. Like Ghost Rider, the drivers of these cars cannot be convicted thanks to the very special Swedish traffic laws.* The whole mounting-a-camera-on-your-ride-and-flooring-it-on-public-streets thing is OlderThanYouThink, by the way. The French director Claude Lelouch already did it on an early August morning in 1976 in his short movie ''[[http://www.rendezvousdvd.com/ C'était un rendez-vous]]''. rendez-vous.]]'' He mounted a camera on the front end of his Mercedes 450 SEL 6.9 and raced the comparably heavy and cumbersome luxury sedan through the streets of Paris. Although this was indeed released as a sort of movie, this does qualify for RealLife because absolutely nothing (except dubbing the engine sounds with a Ferrari 275 GTB) was edited, not even sped up, absolutely no special effects were applied, no preparations beyond mounting the cam on the Mercedes were made, and there wasn't even really a script except the route.

* Jalopnik.com's hoon of the year, [[http://jalopnik.com/5497042/how-a-500-craigslist-car-beat-400k-rally-racers Bill Caswell]]. Enters a WRC Mexico rally race against $400,000+ cars driven by the likes of Ken Block (see "showing off on Website/YouTube", above) with a $500 19-year-old rear-wheel-drive Craigslist car and no crew. Finishes third in class, and ahead of three cars in the aforementioned $400,000+ WRC class.

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* Jalopnik.com's hoon of the year, [[http://jalopnik.com/5497042/how-a-500-craigslist-car-beat-400k-rally-racers Bill Caswell]]. Caswell.]] Enters a WRC Mexico rally race against $400,000+ cars driven by the likes of Ken Block (see "showing off on Website/YouTube", above) with a $500 19-year-old rear-wheel-drive Craigslist car and no crew. Finishes third in class, and ahead of three cars in the aforementioned $400,000+ WRC class.

* You cant leave [[http://www.minorityracer.com/ Ponce, the Minority Racer,]] out of the list of BA's. This Mexican-American underdog race car driver has managed to compete and finish several world class races in multi-motorsports such as the world championship of extreme rock crawling at UROC SuperCrawl 2006, two consecutive [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jdkpni_1Tos WRC events in Mexico]] without any prior rally experience in 2008 and 2010, the [[http://ultra4racing.com/featured/2011-griffin-king-of-the-hammers-official-finishing-order/ King of the Hammers race in 2011]], and recently contacted to drive on the same team with Paris Dakar legend [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHyJFkgbfM8 Jutta Kleinschmidt]] and Michael Podologar to help the team place and finish the [[http://www.4x4offroads.com/minority-racer-joins-team-werk1.html GORM 24hr race, alias the Nurburgring of Offroad]], in Germany.

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* You cant leave [[http://www.minorityracer.com/ Ponce, the Minority Racer,]] out of the list of BA's. This Mexican-American underdog race car driver has managed to compete and finish several world class races in multi-motorsports such as the world championship of extreme rock crawling at UROC SuperCrawl 2006, two consecutive [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jdkpni_1Tos WRC events in Mexico]] without any prior rally experience in 2008 and 2010, the [[http://ultra4racing.com/featured/2011-griffin-king-of-the-hammers-official-finishing-order/ King of the Hammers race in 2011]], 2011,]] and recently contacted to drive on the same team with Paris Dakar legend [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHyJFkgbfM8 Jutta Kleinschmidt]] and Michael Podologar to help the team place and finish the [[http://www.4x4offroads.com/minority-racer-joins-team-werk1.html GORM 24hr race, alias the Nurburgring of Offroad]], Offroad.]] in Germany.

* Anyone who can drive in the Monaco street circuit at top speed, barely centimeters from the walls qualifies. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8rS07ynQ0Q Take a look at some F1 onboard laps to see just how fast and how close it can get]]. You'd be damn sharp if you could just register what went past you. As Niki Lauda put it, Monaco is like driving a motorcycle inside your living room. As many people would remind you, Monaco would not have been approved for races had it been built today.

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* Anyone who can drive in the Monaco street circuit at top speed, barely centimeters from the walls qualifies. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8rS07ynQ0Q Take a look at some F1 onboard laps to see just how fast and how close it can get]]. get.]] You'd be damn sharp if you could just register what went past you. As Niki Lauda put it, Monaco is like driving a motorcycle inside your living room. As many people would remind you, Monaco would not have been approved for races had it been built today.

* Le Prince Noir (The Black Prince), a French motorcyclist, became famous in 1989 for [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCwCUbtxJxI riding one whole "lap" on the Parisian Périphérique expressway]]. Despite heavy traffic and a layout that's far from perfect for high speeds, he reached an average speed of 190km/h and top speeds beyond 250km/h. Don't forget that this was when stock motorcycles were limited to 98bhp.

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* Le Prince Noir (The Black Prince), a French motorcyclist, became famous in 1989 for [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCwCUbtxJxI riding one whole "lap" on the Parisian Périphérique expressway]]. expressway.]] Despite heavy traffic and a layout that's far from perfect for high speeds, he reached an average speed of 190km/h and top speeds beyond 250km/h. Don't forget that this was when stock motorcycles were limited to 98bhp.

* [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1HtScA0L0sg This cognac ad]] about [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_Campbell Sir Malcolm Campbell]], a RealLife racing driver in the 1920s/30s. "When they told him he had reached the limit, he just had one thought-- ''faster''."

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* [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1HtScA0L0sg This cognac ad]] about [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_Campbell Sir Malcolm Campbell]], Campbell,]] a RealLife racing driver in the 1920s/30s. "When they told him he had reached the limit, he just had one thought-- ''faster''."

* ''Franchise/LupinIII'' is often shown in chase scenes escaping from the police, expertly driving and pulling tricks while he does so. Although he's good, it's rather expected of a series that follows a thief as a VillainProtagonist. Why he's impressive is that he translates this skill into [[UniversalDriversLicense other vehicles as well]], ''and'' as a Formula One RaceCar driver.

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* ''Franchise/LupinIII'' is often shown in chase scenes escaping from the police, expertly driving and pulling tricks while he does so. Although he's good, it's rather expected of a series that follows a thief as a VillainProtagonist. Why he's impressive is that he translates this skill into [[UniversalDriversLicense other vehicles as well]], ''and'' as a Formula One RaceCar Race Car driver.

* The various driving instructors of ''Series/CanadasWorstDriver'' all qualify as Badass Drivers to varying degrees. They certainly have to be, being their responsibility to educate others on proper technique. Though host Andrew Younghusband is supposed to represent the "average" driver when he demonstrates the various driving challenges on the show, it's obvious he's been improving over the last decade of this show. The show's contestants, on the other hand, [[DrivesLikeCrazy not so much]]. Special mention goes to season 3 contestant Thomas, who went from DrivesLikeCrazy to BadassDriver by graduating, going on to become a racing driver, and winning his first race. Bad. Ass.

* Mako Reizei from ''Anime/GirlsUndPanzer'' is probably the PatronSaint of Anime {{badass}} ''[[TankGoodness tank]]'' [[BadassDriver drivers]]. [[ActionGirl She is able to drive anything, anywhere, at ridiculous levels of expertise]] [[InstantExpert just by reading the owners manual]]. She tops everything by ''drifting'' a 30-ton ''UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo tank'' in ways that would make [[Manga/InitialD Bunta Fujiwara]], above, gape with envy

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* Mako Reizei from ''Anime/GirlsUndPanzer'' is probably the PatronSaint of Anime {{badass}} badass ''[[TankGoodness tank]]'' [[BadassDriver drivers]]. [[ActionGirl She is able to drive anything, anywhere, at ridiculous levels of expertise]] [[InstantExpert just by reading the owners manual]]. She tops everything by ''drifting'' a 30-ton ''UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo tank'' in ways that would make [[Manga/InitialD Bunta Fujiwara]], above, gape with envy

* [[Creator/DanAykroyd Elwood J. Blues]] in ''Film/TheBluesBrothers''. It takes a lot of {{badass}} to turn a car around at the end of an unfinished bridge like Elwood did. He can even speed through the dark of the night and outrun dozens of police cars with his sunglasses on.

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* [[Creator/DanAykroyd Elwood J. Blues]] in ''Film/TheBluesBrothers''. It takes a lot of {{badass}} gusto to turn a car around at the end of an unfinished bridge like Elwood did. He can even speed through the dark of the night and outrun dozens of police cars with his sunglasses on.

* Any race car driver's skills are fairly easily transferred to street cars, be them open-wheelers or modified production cars. Therefore, pretty much all competent race car drivers are capable of {{badass}} feats behind the wheel. One example of such a driver showing off on Website/YouTube is [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rs-jAImScms Ken Block]].

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* Any race car driver's skills are fairly easily transferred to street cars, be them open-wheelers or modified production cars. Therefore, pretty much all competent race car drivers are capable of {{badass}} badass feats behind the wheel. One example of such a driver showing off on Website/YouTube is [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rs-jAImScms Ken Block]].

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